Abstract

The low‐energy (100 eV) hydrogen‐ion bombardment effects on a‐SiO2 have been investigated by using synchrotron radiationphotoemission spectroscopies. The argon bombardment effects have also been studied, in order to discriminate between physical and chemical characters in the hydrogen/a‐SiO2 interaction. Our results show that hydrogen treatment produces predominantly Si‐H defects, which are observed to induce gap states in a‐SiO2.